“Take your own advice, prince.”
He looks down at himself, as though surprised to find himself halffrozen. Then he looks over at me. “I have something for you.”
I put out my hand, expecting him to return my hairpin, but it’s the bridle that he places in my palm.
“Why?” I ask, staring.
“One of us has to hold on to it. Let it be you,” he says. “Just come to the Citadel by our side, and try to believe, whatever happens, whatever I say or do or have done, that my intention is for us to all survive this. For us to win.”
I want to trust him. I want to trust him so much.
My hand closes over the leather straps. “Of course I’m coming to the Citadel.”
His eyes meet mine. “Good.”
I let myself relax into the moment, into friendship. “Now what about my hairpin?”
He grins and hands it over. I smooth my thumb over the silver bird, then use it to pull back his hair, instead of mine. As my fingers skim over his neck, threading through the silk of his locks, he shudders from something I do not think is cold. I am suddenly too aware of the physicality of him, his long legs and the curve of his mouth, the hollow of his throat and the sharp point of his ears, where earrings once hung. Of the hairs hanging loose from my pin, falling across one light brown horn to rest on his cheekbone.
When his eyes meet mine, desire, as keen as any blade, bends the air between us. The moment slows. I want to bite his lip. To feel the heat of his skin. To slide my hands beneath his armor and trace the map of his scars.
The owl-faced hob takes off from the mast, startling us. I stand up too quickly, jolted into awareness of where I am. I have to grab the wooden wings of the cormorant to keep from pitching into the sea.
Tiernan is perhaps twenty feet away, his gaze on the horizon, but my cheeks heat as though he can read my thoughts.
“Wren?” Oak is looking at me strangely.
I head to the cockpit, ducking under the boom as I go. But even with distance between us, the longing to touch him persists.
I can only be glad Oak does not follow me but heads below to put on dry clothes. Later, when he makes his way to the stern, he wordlessly takes the tiller from Tiernan.
The faerie boat, blown by unseen winds, flies across the sea. We catch sight of mortal schooners and tankers, pleasure barges, and fishing skiffs. Heading north, we skim the edge of the Eastern Seaboard, passing Maine on one side and the isles of Elfhame on the other. Then we sail farther north, through the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Labrador Sea.
Everything ought to be as it was before, except it isn’t. Whenever my hand brushes Oak’s as he passes me a piece of bread or a skin of water, I can’t help but notice. When we sleep in shifts, one of us left to navigate by the stars, I am drawn to watching his face, as though through his dreams, I will learn his secrets.
Something is very wrong with me.
On the third day, as we eat, I turn to throw an apple core into the sea and notice sharks circling the boat. Their fins cut smoothly through the swells. This close to the surface of the water, even their long, pale bodies are visible.
I suck in a breath.
Oak puts a hand up to shade his eyes from the sun just as a mermaid surfaces. Her hair is as silvery as the shine on the waves.
“Loana,” he says with a smile that looks only slightly forced. I remember her name. She is one of the girls he fell in love with, the one who wanted to drown him.
I glance at Tiernan, who is gripping the hilt of his sword, though it is still sheathed. I do not think a blade is going to be particularly useful here.
“You sent for me and I came, Prince Oak. And lucky that I did, for the Undersea has challengers on all sides as Queen Orlagh weakens, each of them looking for an edge. Soon I may be your only friend beneath the waves.”
“The treaty with the land still stands,” Oak reminds her.
“For now, beautiful one.” Her hair floats around her in a silver halo. Her eyes are the bright blue of chipped beach glass. Her tail surfaces lazily behind her, slapping the water before slipping beneath it again. “It is said that Nicasia intends to have a contest and marry the winning challenger.”
“Ah,” says Oak carefully. “Fun?”
“Or perhaps she will call on the treaty.” A shark swims to the mermaid, and she strokes its side. I stare in fascination. The jaws of the beast look as though they could bite the boat in half. “And once she has all the contestants in one place, let the land destroy them.”
“Alas,” says Oak. “The land is trying to remedy its own problems. Which is why I sought your help. We would like to be concealed as we travel over the seas so that we may arrive onshore undetected.”
“You could travel more swiftly beneath them.” Her tone is all temptation.
“Nonetheless,” he says.
Her expression turns into a pout. “Very well, if that’s all you will have of me. I shall do as you ask for the price of a kiss.”
“Oak—” Tiernan begins, a warning in his voice.
I take a step closer to the prince, who is going down on his knees on the hull.
“Easy enough,” Oak says, but there is something in his face that cuts against those words. “And no hardship.”
I spot a rope attached to the mast. As the prince speaks, I push the end in Oak’s direction with my foot.
He does not look down when it hits his thigh. He loops it around one arm stealthily as he bends toward Loana.
She reached up with her webbed fingers, cupping the back of his head. Pressing her lips to his. They must be colder than the sea, colder than mine. His eyes almost close, lashes dipping low. Her tongue is in his mouth. Her grip on him tightens.
I hate watching, but I cannot look away.
Then she yanks him toward her sharply, thrashing with her tail. The rope goes taut, the only thing keeping him from being pulled into the sea.
He scrambles backward onto the boat, breathing hard. His shirt is wet with sea spray. His lips are flushed from her kiss.
“Come with me beneath the waves,” she calls to him. “Drown with me in delight.”
He laughs a little shakily. “A compelling offer, but I must see my quest to its conclusion.”
“Then I will hasten to help you get it done,” she says, diving down and away. The sharks follow, disappearing into the depths. I can see the shimmer of a mist just at the edges of my vision.
“I hope it was worth nearly being dragged down to the bottom of the sea,” Tiernan says, shaking his head.
“We’re concealed from Bogdana and Lady Nore,” Oak says, but does not look either of us in the eye.
At nightfall we sail past floating chunks of ice, landing on a windswept beach just short of the Hudson Strait. Oak pulls the sea craft high onto the black rocks. Tiernan secures a rope to keep it there when the tide comes in. They do not ask me to help, and I do not volunteer.
Above us, a waning moon shines down on my homecoming.
I recall the words from the puppet show, when the crow sang for his millstone. Ca-caw, ca-caw. How beautiful a bird am I.
CHAPTER
13
W
inds rake over the mountains, sinking into the valley with an eerie whistling sound. The late-afternoon sun shines off Oak’s golden hair, almost as bright as the snow.
Thick cloaks hang heavily over our backs. Titch huddles in the cowl at the prince’s neck, occasionally peering out to scowl at me.